Earlier this year, carriers in the US revealed their plans to roll out 5G by the end of this year, and also to continue the rollout in 2019. If you consider yourself an early adopter and wouldn’t mind riding the first wave of 5G, then you might be interested to learn that Verizon and Samsung have announced plans to launch a 5G smartphone in the first half of 2019.
The company does not mention which phone it will be, so we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled. However it was previously reported by Bloomberg that Samsung and Verizon could be in talks to bring a 5G version of the upcoming Galaxy S10 flagship to the US. This would suggest that the Galaxy S10 might be launched without 5G,and that the 5G version could come later.
Samsung is definitely not alone in their plans to launch a 5G smartphone. We have also previously heard that companies such as Huawei and OnePlus also have plans to launch 5G smartphones in 2019. However sitting this one out in 2019 is Apple, or at least that’s what the reports say in which they claim that Apple will be waiting until at least 2020 to launch a 5G iPhone.
As this report from PC World points out, while it is exciting to see 5G rollout in 2019, there are things to consider, such as poor battery life which was the case when 4G first rolled out to the masses. They also suggest that phones could be more expensive as it is essentially using brand new technology, which usually comes at a premium, so those are things to consider if you want to adopt a 5G smartphone in 2019.